There are a variety of electrical connectors which are termed “filter” connectors, in that an electronic component, such as a capacitor, is coupled between the terminals of the connector and a ground plate or plane or a shorting bar normally mounted to a face of a dielectric housing of the connector. The filters are used to suppress electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference entering the connector system.
One of the problems with such filter connectors simply is their cost. Normally, a ground plate or shorting bar is fabricated of stamped and formed conductive metal material and must be mounted separately to the dielectric housing of the connector. Terminals then are mounted in the connector housing. The filter capacitors then must be coupled between the terminals and the ground plate. These steps are time consuming and require assembly tooling, all of which adds considerably to the cost of the connectors. In a mass production environment, reliability and performance often have much to be desired. Typically, the terminals are mounted or inserted into a connector housing in one direction, the capacitors are mounted or inserted into the housing in a different direction and the ground plate or shorting bar is mounted or assembled in the same or different direction. All of these assembly operations require relatively expensive assembly tooling. The present invention is directed to solving these various problems.